While many cycling fans on both sides of the Border in Ireland have welcomed recent news that the Tour de France may be coming to the island of Ireland, a UK cycling body has critiscised the cross-border bid as "baffling".
It strongly criticised the proposal to bring the Tour to the Republic and Northern Ireland for just "a few days", and the effort that will go into that bid, while so much progress still needs to be made in other areas of cycling.
If the bid is successful, the French Grand Tour could start in Ireland in 2026 or 2027, with the expression of interest now lodged with the organisers of the Tour. The French race started in Ireland in 1998 and the Giro d’Italia had an Irish start, with racing on both sides of the Border, in 2014.
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Cycling UK's spokesman in Northern Ireland, Andrew McClean, said while his organisation would "love" to see the Tour back in Ireland "a real lasting legacy for cycling would be for Northern Ireland to stop ignoring the essential work required to help people travel cheaply, sustainably and safely by bike".
Cycling UK has made its comments about the Tour possibly coming to Ireland in the wake of the Department for Infrastructure's proposed Road Safety Strategy for Northern Ireland. Cycling UK says the strategy "further entrenches car dependency" as it does not protect vulnerable road users.
It wants the "hierarchy or road users" introduced into the Northern Ireland strategy after it was incorporated into the British Highway Code in January. This effectively means all road users do not have equal responsibility on the roads, based on the fact some road users are more vulnerable than others, who pose more danger.
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The hierarchy of road users puts more responsibility on motorists than cyclists, for example, because cyclists are much more vulnerable and drivers in vehicles pose much more danger.
However, the Northern Ireland strategy, Cycling UK says, ignores the "hierarchy of road users" concept and uses language like "share responsibility". The UK cycling group says this thinking is outdated and results in an approach that fails to protect cyclists, thus putting them at risk because it fails to recognise motorists pose more danger and, as such, bear more responsibility on the roads.
Cycling UK campaigns for safer cycling in Northern Ireland as part of its work. It believes the authorities in the North would be better served making the roads safer for cyclists rather than joining forces with the Republic in bidding for the Tour to France for a three or four-day trip to the island of Ireland.
It says unless the authorities in the North act to be safeguard cyclists - and so encourage more people to cycle - it has "no credibility if it then submits a bid to host the world's biggest race".
"Cycling UK would love to see the Tour return to the island of Ireland, but a real lasting legacy for cycling would be for Northern Ireland to stop ignoring the essential work required to help people travel cheaply, sustainably and safely by bike," McClean said.
"It's baffling Northern Ireland will put so much care, attention and likely funding into hosting the Tour de France for a couple of days while failing to make every day cycling safer."
